Growth in support and big donations to building fund: The 4 February regional conference of Yorkshire Socialist Party was a tremendous success. Over 50 delegates attended and there was an optimistic mood, which reflected both the growth in support for the

Shares in outsourcing giant Capita have collapsed following the company's profit warning to shareholders. This follows shortly after its competitor Carillion sank into liquidation, and underlines further the fragile state of British capitalism.

Headlines scream about a hard-left takeover of the Labour Party. No wonder. Under Tony Blair, big business found a safe political alternative to the Tories. How they must now long for the return of pro-capitalist, pro-austerity Labour as they watch the Tories' divisions

Non-fiction: Our Revolution: This book 'Our Revolution' by Bernie Sanders is a bestseller which charts his campaign for the Democratic nomination. He is scrupulous in making it clear it was grassroots activists that made this possible.

Following a strike on New Year's Eve, RMT members working on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in London went on strike on 1 and 2 February to force their employer, the outsourcing privateer ISS, to come back to the negotiating table

Last autumn the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) launched a survey of Labour councillors to see if they would back Jeremy Corbyn's anti-austerity stand when setting 2018-19 council budgets and, in those councils going to the polls this year, in the 2018 local elections

The CWU executive committee has agreed a national agreement with Royal Mail Group (RMG) which will now go to members to vote on. Overall, it represents a major climb-down by management and should be viewed as a victory against them.

This year's Unison national women's conference (NWC) in Liverpool last week saw Socialist Party members playing a key role in initiating and organising the first 'Unison Action' fringe meeting to be held at a self-organised group conference.

Only mass mobilisation can prevent capitalist sabotage and guarantee workers' democracy: Fight for public ownership under democratic workers' control and management, with compensation to owners only on the basis of proven need

Unity in struggle against Temer's attacks - build a new socialist alternative: The objective of this second conviction of Lula - frontrunner in all opinion polls - is to eliminate him from the 2018 presidential elections

Chris Fernandez, the local election agent for eight Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates at the 2016 council elections in Derby, after a two-and-a-half week trial has been sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for charges of electoral fraud

The workers' movement must maintain an independent class opposition to a Tory Brexit, 'soft', 'hard' or 'no deal'. But that is not the position of the Blairite defenders of capitalism within the Labour Party.

Parkland school massacre: Socialists support some limitations on access to guns as a public health measure. However, this will clearly not solve the problems of poverty, inequality and alienation that underlie violence

People are amazingly generous, especially when you consider Stoke is an area where the manufacturing industry has been destroyed over the last 30 years, first the pits, then the pottery and steel industry